Table Talks
by caseywatson6
Summary: Quinn and Rachel win the duets competition and have to use the free dinner for two tickets. One problem. They hate eachother. Things aren't going well and then get even worse when Quinn forbids Rachel from speaking, making her have to write messages instead of talking. Queue Santana's entrance and Quinn's embarrassment. Faberry.


Quinn sits on one side of the booth, Rachel sits across from her. Even though there are typical restaurant noises being made all around them they feel the uncomfortable silence enveloping there table like a bubble. Quinn curses internally at how this is turning out and thinks back to how it all started.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

_The whole glee club is clapping and giving them genuine and sincere smiles. Quinn looks over to Santana who has this look on her face as if… well she didn't know what to call it. Her closest comparison would be the look on Finn's face every time in math class the teacher asks him for the answer… utter confusion._

_Quinn is curious about her semi-friends expression but lets it drop and basks in the pride of a job well done. She and Rachel had just sung I Feel Pretty/Unpretty for the duets competition, she was originally supposed to sing a duet with Sam but for some weird reason he was adamant that he should sing with Kurt because he had asked him first. _

_When Quinn asked him why he didn't want to sing with her he blushed and said it was nothing personal, he then broke out into the biggest grin a human has ever achieved- seriously, those lips are huge- when Kurt walked up and said they should rehearse there song. Sam said goodbye and as they were turning the corner at the end of the hall Quinn swore she saw them link hands._

_At first she didn't care, but when she found out that she would have to sing with MANHANDS! Then she got pissed. Apparently Rachel and Finn fought over the song they should sing for the duet, both adamant that there choice was more romantic and better conveyed the love they shared. So of course, with them being their stupid selves, this lead to a temporary break up -no not just from there duet partnership, from there relationship… Yeah, that stupid- and landed Quinn with what she called the partner from hell. _

_As proud as Quinn was of her performance, Rachel was none too pleased. She did think they sounded amazing together -as did everyone else- but she resented the fact that Quinn wouldn't let them practice together before the performance and the only time Quinn talked to Rachel about the performance was the get the music sheets Rachel had spent hours rewriting to fit there voice keys and styles. She just snatched them away and said she didn't want to hang around in case Rachel got hit with a slushy, claiming to be afraid of the back splash getting on her uniform. _

_No one knew the real reason was that Quinn couldn't stand to look at Rachel's face in those moments and always had to turn around._

_Inevitably as soon as Quinn walked away she heard a splash and a small, weak, yelp. For some unknown reason her stomach sunk a little, Quinn just shook her head and brushed the feeling off. _

_So now they sat in the choir room, the clapping of there fellow members dying down after an astounding performance that had no rehearsal what so ever. _

_No one was surprised when at the end of the meeting Mr. Shue announced Rachel and Quinn as the winners, Quinn was even internally smiling, but that only lasted until he handed over the dinner for two at Breadstix ticket prize. _

_The next day Quinn redeemed the ticket's and got ones for a more vegan friendly place in town. When Rachel asked why they switched restaurants Quinn claimed to have seen a hair in her food at Breadstix once and refused to eat there. This new place was less classy because they used paper table cloths to save money and time and just places crayons on them to make it seem like a creative eating experience. But Quinn was just happy Rachel would have more eating options… You know… So she didn't have to hear her complain._

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

So that's why Quinn- Ice Queen- Fabray was sitting here with Rachel- Treasure Trail- Berry. And they were not having fun.

"Quinn… you know you didn't have to come here if you were just going to sit there and stare at me the whole night" Rachel said not meeting Quinn's eyes.

"I came here for free food dwarf, but your right, if I happen to look at your face again the free food might not even be worth it if I puke," Quinn spat, internally cringing at the fact that Rachel had caught her staring.

Quinn noticed Rachel sink down in her seat a bit and out of guilt said, "Look, I'm already out for the night and I ended my facebook conversions right before I came, so I'm staying." Quinn said, trying to sound forceful toward the end.

No one but her could ever know that the whole statement was a lie. She didn't have close enough friends to have nightly facebook conversions with and she certainly wasn't on her computer before coming to the restaurant, no she had spent the last two hours getting ready for this, not that Rachel would ever know or ever dare to comment on her appearance for fear of death.

No one would know that Quinn was secretly looking forward to this dinner WAY more then a friendly amount. Hell, she even took it as far as going shopping with Santana to get a new dress for this. It was weird; the whole time Santana kept making that confused Finn face at her as they went from store to store.

Quinn suddenly noticed that through all her inner musings Rachel has been talking. Quinn has noticed how Rachel has a tendency to do this before, but she's never experienced the rambling being directed at her. Quinn doesn't know why but she likes it and smiles a little to herself thinking it's kind of cute… _wait, what?... Never mind, time to tune back in._

"- so that's how my last goldfish died. I also got a text from Finn today- it was rather cute- he said that he wishes he could have taken me to dinner instead so it could be a proper date. I think the way things are going we'll probably get back together soon."

Quinn was raging inside so she venomously cut Rachel off "-Shut up."

"…Quinn if you still have feelings for Finn I-"

"-I said shut up Manhands!"

"No, I won't stop talking, this is my free dinner as much as it is yours and I have every righ-"

"RACHEL I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU TALK ONE MORE TIME THIS NIGHT I WILL WALK DOWN TO THE CONVIENIENCE STORE JUST TO BY A SLUSHY TO THROW AT YOU!"

Silence, dead silence, and not just the awkward bubble silence at their table, no, it was whole restaurant silence.

They sat there for what seemed like an eternity staring at each other. Rachel with shock and Quinn had on a very unreadable expression though she's internally sobbing at having ruined the chance at even becoming mutual acquaintances. They continued to sit like this even after everyone else went back to there own business. Pretty soon Rachel saw the crayons on the table and wrote where her plate should have been if the service wasn't so damn slow.

**Is this acceptable?-R **

Quinn swears to this day that it was the hardest she'd ever done trying to not to let her face split open with a smile as she tried to glare at Rachel… apparently the glare was quite ineffective because Rachel started writing something else.

**I can see your hidden smile ****-R **

Quinn chose to turn away and look at the door so that Rachel couldn't see her hidden smile turn into a blush but Quinn swore she heard light chuckling coming from Rachel's direction, just as she was about to turn back and spew hateful words at the girl a person walking in caught her eye. It was the second last person she wanted to show up -last being her father- and as soon as they made eye contact Quinn saw a wicked grin spread on her face and thought to herself _'my life is about to officially become over.'_

As Santana approached there table her grin only grew as she spotted who Quinn was eating with. She walked right up and said "Wow Quinn, never pegged you as one to feast with the losers" Quinn only responded with "Go away Santana" sending her a glare while inside saying _'don't you dare call Rachel a loser, only I can call her that because she's mine… wait…'_

Santana of course completely ignored Quinn's comment and leaned over the table to snag one of there buns. She looked over at Rachel after swallowing her first bite and said "So hobbit is the HBIC here treating you right on your date?"

Quinn's cheeks flared red at that accusation only to turn a shade redder as Rachel wrote on the paper.

**Do I have permission to speak again?-R**

Santana leaned over them both to read this and burst out laughing at what she read, she turned to Quinn and said "Man Q, only been one date and she's already whipped" At this Rachel made a huff of indignation but went unheard as Quinn seethed out "This is not a date Santana, now leave."

Of course Santana ignored her once again and went on to comment on Quinn's outfit "That's a lovely dress you have on Q-ball, isn't that the one you bought with me at the mall last weekend?" At this Quinn's eyes widened in fear and she softly whispered out "Santana, please, don't."

Sadly it seems Santana wasn't in a very empathetic mood today. "But it can't be that outfit. No, you told me you bought that outfit for a date, said you were trying to impress someone you like."

At this, everyone had a different reaction. Santana smirked evilly while Quinn shrunk in her seat and shut her eyes briefly to try to think of what her next move should be. Rachel, keeping her silence only had the reaction of her eyes practically popping out of their sockets as she stared at Quinn.

After a very awkward 5 seconds Santana decided that she's done enough damage and saw this as her queue to leave the train wreck of a dinner by calling out, "I'm out bitches… and so apparently is Q's little secret." before she chuckled her way out the door.

They sat in silence for a very long time Rachel staring at Quinn curiously and Quinn refusing to spare her a glance. Eventually the tension became too much so Rachel wrote out

**Do you want to talk about it?-R**

Quinn wanted to speak but feared her voice would crack and her insecurity would show through so she wrote.

**No.-Q**

She thought it was stupid to sign it after but knew that Rachel would probably start a rant if she didn't and truthfully she didn't feel like reading her paragraphs on proper messaging etiquette.

Even though Quinn said no, Rachel (as expected) kept writing.

**Is what she said true?-R **

Quinn sat there staring blankly at nothing for a very long time; so long that it scared Rachel. She debatedher options but eventually decided that since she was sure Santana was already running her mouth all around there high school social group with this gossip then Quinn mine as well tell Rachel the truth, the sooner its over the sooner everyone can forget about it.

So she tentatively wrote **Yes.-Q**

Rachel, it turns out, is not the terrible actor that some seemed to think, for as much as she wanted to squeal in excitement (yes you heard that right, Quinn wasn't the only one with a crush on her nemesis) she remained stone face and that scared the living daylights out of Quinn.

Rachel let her sit for a minute, stewing in her uncertainty before writing back

**Are you really going to ban your date from talking then?-R **

In an instant Quinn was smiling the best smile Rachel had ever seen on her before replying

**I don't know, this writing stuff is kind of fun and I'm pretty sure my words would fail me right now-Q **

Rachel laughed softly at this before replying

**Fine we'll do it your way then, how long?-R**

**How long what?-Q **she knew she was playing dumb but didn't care, she just liked to keep Rachel waiting

**How long have you liked me Quinn?-R **Right to the point, as always.

**Who said I like you, you don't have to like someone to want to date them… Like Finn and I, for example.-Q**

**No need to be rude and I do believe I heard Santana say something about you taking a liking to someone and wanting them to see you in that dress, which is gorgeous by the way, as are you ;)-R **

Quinn was blushing bright red after she read Rachel's message and sent her a warm smile, but she still couldn't help but poke fun

**Yes I have this date with a smokin' hot chick tomorrow, you have no idea how much I appreciate you coming out tonight to be my trial run :P- Q**

Rachel fake pouted and Quinn knew from the adorable look on her face that play time was over and done.

**Let's forget about what Santana said and go back a bit here, what was this comment about talking on a ****DATE****?-Q **

Quinn then drew an arrow to Rachel's previous message referring to this as a date

**Let me talk and I'll tell you, please **** -R **

Quinn didn't really want to have this conversation out in the open; it would make it feel too real, especially if she got rejected. Quinn would definitely rather read that then hear it. But curiosity got the better of her as she let out a big sigh then quietly said "Fine, you can talk."

"Thank you." Rachel said while fishing out something from her purse "Here, put this back in your purse," she said as she handed over the certificate for a free meal to Quinn. Quinn took it while asking "Why are you giving this to me?" To which Rachel said "Because you should always pay on your first date."


End file.
